Commonwealth legislation

Statistics (Disclosure in time of War) Regulations, 1915 (Provisional)

RepealedCTH

This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth

Act Number

120 of 1915

Collection

legislative instrument

Plain English Summary

1/10 complexity

These World War I emergency rules created a temporary backdoor into normally secret census records. What it does: The government Statistician (head of the statistics bureau) must hand over any census forms or statistical data to the Minister—or anyone the Minister designates—if the Minister certifies it's needed for war-related investigations. Who it affects: Anyone who filled out a census form, plus the Statistician who has to break normal confidentiality rules. Why it matters: Normally, census information is strictly private. These regulations suspended that protection during the war, allowing the government to use population data for military investigations, tracking enemy aliens, or resource allocation—provided the Minister signed off on it.

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Current sections

Direct links to the current provisions in Statistics (Disclosure in time of War) Regulations, 1915 (Provisional).

Statistics (Disclosure in time of War) Regulations, 1915 (Provisional)

STATUTORY RULES.

1915. No. 120.

PROVISIONAL REGULATIONS UNDER THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS ACT 1905.

I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL in and over the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, do hereby certify that, on account of urgency, the following Regulations under the Census and Statistics Act 1905 should come into immediate operation, and make the Regulations to come into operation forthwith as Provisional Regulations.

Dated this seventh day of July, One thousand nine hundred and fifteen.

R. M. FERGUSON,

Governor-General.

By His Excellency’s Command,

W. O. ARCHIBALD,

Minister of State for Home Affairs.

Statistics Regulations.

1. These regulations may be cited as the Statistics (Disclosure in time of War) Regulations, 1915.

2. The Statistician shall, when directed by the Minister, divulge to the Minister or to such other person or persons as the Minister may direct, the contents of any form filled up in pursuance of the Act or any information furnished in pursuance of the Act, provided the Minister certifies that the particulars or information disclosed are required for the purpose of any investigation in connexion with the war.

Printed and Published for the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia by Albert J. Mullett, Government Printer for the State of Victoria.

C.9048.—Price 3d.

Source text

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.

1 Statistics (Disclosure in time of War) Regulations, 1915 (Provisional)